Two Cute

Two calves.
Too many.
To a 4-Her.
The End.

C'mon now! I never give you the Reader's Digest version of any story.

One of our heifers (a first-time mom) had twins last week. Bonus, right? Two for the price of one!

But not so fast. Many times, mama cows just claim one of the babies. And that's what happened this time, too.

Randy is more into grandparenting mode these days. Hold the baby until said baby cries, then pass her off to the mama. (The joy of Grandpahood!)

Admittedly, there's no feeding possible in the Wonderful World of Grandparenting right now, as Mom is on call 24/7. But Randy got in on some feeding action with the unclaimed twin.

See, he has some commendable mothering skills, too.

Still, this little calf needed an extra dose of love and attention. Enter 4-Her.

This little lady will get lots of one-on-one time with a 4-Her who loves her and wants to take her to the Stafford County Fair in July.

Aubrey and her dad came and picked up the calf on Sunday. So Randy is out of his nursemaid job. He's OK with that, especially when he knows how the 4-H bucket calf program helps grow kids into responsible adults.

Exhibit A.
Exhibit B.

Life Lessons

Death is one of life's lessons. Ironic, isn't it?

We would like to shield our kids from the difficult things in life. But if we didn't experience some of the hard things as kids - when we're in the midst of a family who loves us - wouldn't it be tougher in the long run?

A 4-Her named Katie came to the County Line last week and took home a bucket calf. It was a twin. Randy had been feeding it since it was born February 27.

The mom had claimed only one of the babies. Randy had carried it to the barn to get keep it dry and warmer.

Then he bottle fed it, twice a day for a week and a half.

It never seemed to thrive. He would have to rouse it from its bed of hay and encourage it to stand up and eat.

But it seemed to improve a little bit, so he called the 4-H family who had asked for a bucket calf. He told Katie's mom he wasn't sure how the calf would do, but they could try.

Unfortunately, the calf died. (We had already told them we didn't want to be paid for the calf until we knew for sure it would survive.)

When Katie's mom called, I told her to tell Katie that we were sorry about her calf. And it was her calf, even though she had only had it a couple of days. I told her that we knew the calf wasn't the strongest calf and that it wasn't Katie's fault that it died.

It's just another example of how 4-H teaches life lessons. Death is a part of life. Animals and plants and people die. Some are sick and some are old. Some are neither sick or old, but they still die. Sometimes it doesn't make sense.

But Katie has now experienced the death of someone she loves. And she'll know that she can get through it.

We often used death on the farm as a teaching moment. A dead kitten on the road in front of our house taught Jill and Brent that there were consequences for crossing the road in front of traffic. It made them aware.

Brent had a 4-H steer die at the fairgrounds one year. Thankfully, he had two steers at the fair that year, so he was still able to sell one in the premium auction. But losing a market steer probably knocked $1,000 from his college fund. He had fed and watered that steer every day. He had spent time working with it so it would lead during the fair. It was a lesson that no matter how hard you try, things don't always work out. You have to pick yourself up and try again the next time.

Life goes on ... even in the face of death.

Buddy

Randy got reacquainted with a couple of old friends last week. Aubrey and Buddy came to the Stafford County Fair.

Buddy started life on The County Line in February. He was a twin, and the mom claimed his sibling and not him.

How could you not choose that cute little face, right?

But that is sometimes life on the farm. So Randy bottle fed him during his first few weeks of life.

Then Buddy found a new friend, a 4-Her named Aubrey. Unlike his mother, Aubrey loved him and cared for him and obviously fed him.

He had grown quite a bit since we'd said goodbye in late February.

(Note the difference in Buddy's height compared to Aubrey last February when she came to take him home. Then check him out in the photo at the top of the post taken last week.)

Aubrey and Buddy were in the bucket calf show at the 2010 Stafford County Fair.

Both our kids loved the bucket calf project. And they both learned a lot of life lessons from their succession of bucket calves. They learned that their calves had to be fed and watered every day, whether it was snowing outside or was 100 degrees in the shade. They learned that you had to work with a calf to make him lead. You had to do it even if your favorite TV show was on.

The appropriately-named Runaway taught Jill that Dad didn't REALLY mean for you to hold onto the lead rope NO MATTER WHAT!

Brent's bucket calf crop was a line-up of Wildcat football-inspired names like Michael (Bishop) and Willie (Wildcat) and (Jeff) Kelly (because it was a girl).

The bucket calf project also led our kids to the market beef project, which taught another bevy of life lessons.

Brent learned to say goodbye to old friends in this project. After the first year or two, our kids also brought their bucket calves back to the fair the next year as a market steer. Market steers and their 4-Hers can go through the livestock premium auction.

But then the reality hits. This friend who you've loved and cared for during the past couple of years is not going to be out in the corral any longer. It's another life lesson when the trailer comes to haul your friend away.

Jill never seemed to have the emotional attachment to her bucket calves. She was already adding up the auction proceeds and putting them in her college account.

But it took Brent a few years to be able to see the upside of this painful goodbye.

So we have a soft spot in our hearts for the bucket calf project, one of the reasons Randy and I sponsor the bucket calf showmanship trophy at the fair.

Who needs a carnival when you can watch a bucket calf show? At our fair, the show is more about what the 4-Her knows than the quality of the calf or how the calf is "fitted," or prepared, for the show.

At the Pratt County Fair, the judge has a microphone, and the audience can hear the 4-Hers' responses to questions about how much the calf was fed, what it was fed, what the grain mix was, what kind of shots were given and so on and so forth.

At our fair, it's just between the judge and the 4-Her. The audience isn't privy to the revealing answers.

This year's judge told the parents: "I learned more about your families than you might think."


The judge seemed to get a chuckle out of something Aubrey was telling him.

This little guy was too young for 4-H. But the cowboy-booted, pint-sized cowboy entered his friend in the open class division. He was just as confident as the "big" kids about leading the calf into the ring.

The bucket calf show is not without drama. This calf decided she had been standing long enough. The rest of us could relate. We all wanted to lay down and take a breather during the heat and humidity of the fair.

But, then again, fighting the heat and humidity are worth it to see the 4-Hers learn, excel and come a step closer to becoming a responsible adult ... one bucket calf at a time.